There were other "things" around the crowded room that reminded her of him, "to many memories," she thought. As she turned to head out of the room, she noticed something glistening in the far corner. "This attic is a mess," she said. As she walked over to investigate, she realized it was a piece of jewelry, a chain of some sort, peeking from out of a small box, as if calling her over..she held it in her hand. It was much heavier than she expected. It didn't feel like any metal that she was familiar with. She place the chain around her neck and she continued to explore until she came to an old metallic brief case. It was... locked. She put in several combinations trying to open it. His birthday? No. Her birthday? No. Their anniversary? No. The day their son died? No. Then she looked at the chain and the little pendant on the end. It had numbers engraved on the back: 0-5-6-9-2. She put the combination in the lock and the breifcase clicked open. She couldn't believe what she was now looking at. He mind struggled to make sense of it. She pulled out a very large handgun and several passports with his face on it. Each passport had a different alias.
Underneath the passport was a very large sum of neatly stacked 100 dollar bills and a very sharp knife. "My God." she whispered to herself. "Who are you?" Suddenly, she was flooded with memories - vividly, she recalled the first time they had ever locked eyes in a smokey bar in Instanbul, shortly after the war... the mysterious bruises and scars he would come home with. She knew how secretive he could be but she just assumed he was very private. He was never neglectful to her. But she could always feel there was something he wasn't telling her. The weird stains on his shirts that never came out, and that clown costume she found stuffed under the bed,..it was all adding up- He was a spy. But where...when- HOW? Maybe the dog knew even more than she- what about the home security tapes? Should she DARE peruse the dark truth?? "Why had he chosen this life?" she thought. Was there more about his past that she didn't know? And why was it more important than her? What Mildred didn't know was that he didn't choose this life. Bart, as Mldred knew him, aka Mathew, aka Francis, aka Victor, aka Francois, had been pullled into a world wide web of intrigue when he was but 18. He parents, having died in a mysterious accident, a week before, relatives he never new about called on him to help him in his time of grief. These "relatives", though, had ulterior motives. And, strangest of all, they all wore purple berets and shoes. Purple berets and shoes because purple was the new black! It appeared that these people had some kind of control over Bart and were manipulating him but the interesting thing was, is that whenever he mentioned them to anyone, no one had ever seen or heard of them. Being in such a vunerable state having lost his parents, he was extremely influenced and therefore began to wonder if these people were all in his imagination. Or, could it honestly be, a dream within a dream? That still didn't account for the missing times and days in his life either- and that clown costume,,...or the weird buzzing in his head,. She collapsed on to the dusty, damp floor, with her legs sprawled infront of her and then leant backwards and gazed out at the moon through a crack in the attic roof. She took a deep breath in as she felt utterly alone and lost once more. Suddenly, whilst gazing at the moon....she heard whispers in the dark. She held her breath to concentrate better, to focus on the sounds. She closed her eyes and tried to use her gift.
The "Gift," a legacy that has been passed down to the first born child of her family. Not all were able to control these powers in her family. She flashed back to when she was a child in her Nana's care. Her mother died because of it. Lost her mind. Nana said that she had taken it for granted. Didn't respect it. And it destroyed her. Mildred then began to expand her awareness, the feeling was incredible. Like floating on a cloud. She had never called upon her powers so quicly, and the rush of energy flowing through her was alomost unberarable. She took another breath and finally let go...suddenly the whole room began to spin. The settled dust was no longer settled and created a mass of fog which was unberabled to breathe in. The gentle rain outside turned in to torrential rain and she dragged herself up from the ground awkwardly, spluttering and coughing but completely fearless of what she had created for the first time....a portal. She knew how dangerous this was from the stories her Nana told her. But she also knew this was the only way to find the truth. Who is Bart? Why did he leave? She gathered a few belongings and made sure to grab her grandmother...'s talisman. If things didn't work out, she would have to use the talisman to get back. At the last minute and before stepped through the circling mass of energy, she saw a Purple Beret, "that wasn't there before," she said. But she didn't have time to analyze....and with one breath and one jump, she was gone. Bart was an artistic type, with tall, dark, handsome features but with a mystery about him, almost meloncholy air but nothing sinister.
Mildred had seen him a few times at the local shop and was intrigued by him when she first set eyes on him....a moment in time she was about to witness. Mildred found herself back in that smoky bar in Istanbul and she realized that the lovely young girl sitting at the table in the far corner was strangely familiar. Quickly she moved to one of the dark-er corners of the bar to observe what she already knew....she had somehow transversed more than continents. She had, in fact, stepped into that portal and traveled back in time. But how was this possible? Could that young girl really be...a man? But no, it couldn't be, "me....as a MAN??!!" The very thought suddenly sent chills up her spine. Where was she? She had no twin brother......or did she? Confusion set in and she sat back into the hard wooden chair to catch her breath. WHERE AM I... ????? WHERE....???? A hunched back waiter came over to her... and gave her an envelope. "It's from the gentleman at the bar." He whispered to her. She stopped. Almost frozen and turned to the bar. She couldn't believe her eyes. Instinct, gut reaction, she didn't know which, but her hands had covered her mouth just as she had said his name, "Bart!" Her legs began to tremble as she tried to stand. "Easy girl," she thought. This was happening, she wasn't dreaming and she would finally have the answers she so desparately needed. But what about that envelope...? Dare she open it? What would it reveal? What could the contents possibly be? And, was she really ready to know all that it contained? She sensed fear, and yet, curiosity. she had waited so long. she clenched it tight, torn between what she would find...she looked at the envelope and saw something that struck fear into the deepest cord of her soul. She broke into a cold sweat at the name written into the return address corner. She knew there was nothing she could do to escape her sworn ene...my. She read the name in the upper right hand corner: Sallie Mae. Somehow, her student loans had tracked her to Istanbul.
What most people didn't know is that Sallie Mae was actually short for Salvator Maezagotti from the South Philly Italian mafia. She walked over Bart. Her hands shaking and said..."What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?," said Mildred. As the man she knew as Bart turned, there was something different about him, and yet familiar. He turned and looked at her and said, "Do I know you Madame?" Mildred's knees began to buckle. When Mildred opened her eyes again, she was in a sitting room of exotic decor. Turkish pillows strewn about the floor. Moorish lamps illuminated the space. She blinked her eyes trying to clear her mind, trying to figure out how she got here. And she remembered, Bart...the bar....she stood up quickly and started for the door when it opened before she could reach it. "I couldn't have you recognize me there" Bart said with a sad voice, "Not with everyone around, the stench, the smoke, the flies in the food-no, it had to be here, and here alone,...Mildred,...my dear love,...is the purple beret that i have always carried with me to remember you by...i know, you think it can't be, but it is, and there's so much more that you should know......with bated breath she listened...transfixed...unwilling and unable to divert her eyes from his. Neither blinked for what seemed like minutes. Then he says with great gravity and gentle care, "We are from another time,...and I've been allowed to come back and try to explain things to you. You have a part to play in all this, Unfortunatley, I can't tell you --everythin',-- some you will have to learn on you're own---but I can tell you this, you've already done this and you know all you need to know, now, it's time to find out, why?" As Mildred listened intently, she couldn't help feelin', the truth of the matter. Somewhere inside of her she knew what he was sayin' was the truth, but Metaphysics wasn't her specialty in University...all she could do was...sit and ponder....and sit, and wait, and think. she kicked back another shot of cuervo, and then...the room began to spin. She quickly held onto the edge of the bar for balance. She turned to Bart for help, but he only stared back at her; as she began to lose consciousness, the only thing she could hear were his last words, "it's time."
Mildred's eyes fluttered, watery and fuzzy- she couldn't make out where she was yet- but the face in front of her now was very familiar to her,....and it wasn't Barts. It was a clown in a purple barret...Mildred's lover from high school who was even then the class clown and now he wanted to renew their friendship. But there was something in his eyes she noticed, something lost, gone...."trust," she thought she heard him say, "lies,"....."you lied to mmeeeeeeeeeee. I put my trust in you..," he said. "You took my vulnerability, my hurt, my pain and made a mockery of it.....a mockery....! You stomped on the heart that would've followed you in the pits of hell, only with a word."you listened on the side of a lustful bed mate. I know the truth of who you really are, were, and will be....you see, I was you.....I was you." And with that he disappeared and was never seen again. Mildred sat stunned, unable to breath. "How...," she thought. With a sudden flash, he was back, "OH...and another thing, "Cooooooock a Doodle Dooooooooooooooo." And in a flash, he was gone again! Mildred's senses began to hum, she could feel the energy building around her, suddenly her hands began to tingle. She raised her hands slowly, and looked down, they were glowing. She turned them over and in the palm of each hand was a symbol. "Alpha...and Omega," she thought. But what could they mean, what could they mean? Shaking and sweating, her toes felt something wet and slippery undernieth them- sand...wet sand with seawater lapping at her feet- she was standing in the middle of a beach at sunset, the sky aglow with orange and pink....and she was wearing a gold lame' suit that shone with rhinestones ......a figure was approaching in the distance-.the brightness of the Sunset blinded her or was it, "no, it couldn't be," she said. She realized the blinding light was coming from the figure approaching. As it came closer, the light began to diminish as if closing, like a door....."...a portal." But this wasn't like any of the "portals" she had created in her practice sessions. She could feel the energy emanating, embracing her the closer it came. Softly and without a single hesitation, she began chanting a Prayer of Protection... "I am a Child of the Light// Each day and each night// Protected I am// through HER precious might//..... she had been usd to the effects of such Energy before, it was built up during the sessions back home. Carefully, slowly, but this was different, calling upon IT so quickly had it's consequences no mildred...don't go in the light! stay awaaaaay from the light! Meanwhile, back in Istanbul, Bart was frozen speechless. His eyes began to blink, slowly he was beginning to remember the events of the evening. He looked around, but, where was Mildred? Then suddenly, he saw a small bubble like thing coming toward him in the sky from far away...closer and closer it came, and he hoped with all his heart...YESSS!!!! it was a beauty in a tiara, and pale blue ball gown..yesss..as he had hoped...it was kristin chenowith! He quickly grabbed the first thing he could, gaffers tape. In the blink of an eye, he raced towards her and said, "NO SHOWTUNESSSSSSS," and proceeded to make sure no sound could escape. He then thought, "I have been looking to do something else." He backed up to sit down. Behind him was a creaky old rocking chair, "that's odd," he thought. "That wasn't there before," and the small silver Yorkie wagging its tail at them both,..that wasn't their dog,at all. They had a rotweiler....suddenly, there was an extremely high pitched sound, like a high e above c, and the bubble like thing burst open to reveal the tiniest blonde in heals...but why was she carrying a septor, and wearing a tiara? the yorkie was baffled, but sensed trouble, and immediately backed away, and bumped into the chair. Bart and the Yorkie both exchanged looks, as if to say, "huh?" The beautiful woman with a Sceptor made of Oak and a Tiara made of Elderberry smiled and said, "can I have a glass of water?" Little did they both know, water was the ONLY thing that kept her alive, "Waterrr,..she whispered, melodiously, as if a sprinkle of rainbow puffed out of her mouth. " Waterrrrr." Bart ran behind the dust covered bar, only to find the Bartender lying face down in a pool of Bloody Mary Mix--there were Olives outlining his small framed body. He tried to find a "clean" glass...but they seemed to be all covered in lipstick stains. There was also a full tip jar on the counter...overflowing with bills...and the piano played....a familiar tune. Bart closed his eyes, took a breath and exhaled.
Memories began to flood his mind. Faster and faster, memory after memory, experiences and regrets. When finally, somewhere deep within in him, with a surge of climatic proportions, he opened his mouth and sang, "AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"...am telllllllin' you...IIIIIIIIII'M NOT GOIN'..." it was only when he had reached the lyric "you're the best man i've ever known; there's no way i could ever, ever go" that she began to realize...Bart was never whom he had seemed to be, and now she knew why he left, and just what he was after. It ALL began to become clear and make sense.
"But what about the Turtle?" he thought. And with THAT Bart turned and started to leave, when in the corner of his eye, on the far end of the bar, there glistening under the light, was a shimmering Red Rose, lying across a small envelope. "I didn't notice that before," he said. Before he knew it, he had glided across the room. He picked up the Rose, it's velvet smooth petals sent shivers through him, electrifying him, "charging' his spirit. He could now see, written on the envelope was his name, "Bart." Written with such a grace, in it's penmanship. Almost, lyrical. He opened it and unfolded the note. With a deep breath he began to read. And with each breath after, he became consumed by the note. Charged and mesmerized. He welcomed the Grace and closed his eyes and with that said, "that was fun." Mildred, by now, KNEW, with all of her heart that Bart was a changed man, but he was never going to be hers....the happiness on his face, from the info the letter contained had said it all...and that was what he had been waiting for, for quite some time.
THE END
..this story was the collaboration of a group of friends I have on Facebook. If you are interested in joining, look us up on Facebook, The Longest Short Story, EVER!!!!
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